Altadena West of Lake July 2025- Andrea Gaffney
ALTADENA TREE STORY PROJECT
My family and I have called Altadena home for 52 years. What created that deep sense of belonging were our neighbors, our community, and the experience of living in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, surrounded by a diverse and vibrant tree canopy. After the Eaton Fire, much of Altadena’s beloved canopy has been scarred or removed. These mature trees stood as quiet testaments to our town’s history, and losing them can feel just as devastating as losing a home.
Moved by the loss of my family’s mulberry and citrus trees, I set out to document the stories of others in Altadena who share a similar connection to a tree, whether lost in the fire or still standing. The Altadena Tree Story Project is an oral and visual history initiative dedicated to preserving the memories of Altadena’s trees, and the lives and communities that grew alongside them.
Community Stories
Jeff, Palm Street
“When I was a boy, the very first tree I learned to climb was the big camphor tree in my grandma’s front yard. And when I was a grown man shopping for a house to start a family in with my wife, we found a house with a giant camphor tree, just like my grandma’s camphor tree from my youth.
It was one of the driving reasons that pushed us to choose that house to buy and start a family in. During the COVID lockdowns, we couldn’t leave the house much, so I used the time to build a tree house in that tree. Supposedly it was for my kids, but secretly it was the dream tree house that I always had wanted ever since my boyhood.
My heart is broken. It feels like a piece of our world has been amputated. My tree house is ash, and the giant camphor tree I loved so much is dead.”
Lauren, Crest Drive
“The trees meant a lot to my family. They were home to so many critters, birds, squirrels, even the occasional bobcat. They provided my family shade in the hot L.A. summers.
Growing up, my brother and I spent many days climbing in them and swinging on the swings my dad built us.
In later years, I would set up my hammock using the trees and read books under them.
The trees were part of what made our house a home.
While our home did not survive, our beautiful oak trees did. We estimate the trees are over 100 years old and were there even before our house was built. [Their survival] gives us hope and strength for the unknown future.”
